We’ve successfully wrapped Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich!
What did you make of the book overall? Did you come around to her view by the end about how medicine treats people? Has anything changed about how you perceive the rigors of age? Would you recommend it?
Next week, we go inside the forecast with The Weather Machine by Andrew Blum. Get it from Amazon or Indiebound. All you have to do for next week is to get your hands on the book and read at least the prologue.
I love the notions that both the Soul & the Self were invented, from clear air. Kind of like how Harari in Sapiens asserts about the notion of God. Especially interesting that the former was invented after the Bible was written.
Another new lens through which to look that hit me over the head was dealing w death. The notion that dealing w death is really a struggle to envision the world existing w out us in it, was a total wallop. Insert head exploding emoji here. Our (selfish) “legacy” being the prime driver, as she puts it.
Which, when stepping away from such self indulgent points of view, encourages us to view the human as a ‘cell’ in the super being that is humanity. But what of the animals? The environment. The earth will also end. So, too the universe. You can double the head exploding emoji here. But, beyond that shock, it’s an encouraging reminder that one should take the inspiration to look in the mirror, and beyond.
The finale was a wrap up worthy of the contents of the book, indeed. The author proved to be thoughtfully and delightfully antagonistic throughout. And it’s these challenges to conventional thought / wisdom that nourishes the growth of thoughts and ideas for the good of the land. And when she can equally throw spears at the evolution and origin of religion as she does to the evolution of sciences, she’s done her due diligence to rake intellectual (and non secular) muck. And has done the raking empirically, w any personal or opinion driven items clearly delineated. She damn near lost me at the cellular level, but on the whole, the book was great and I truly loved the way she finished.
I loved this book! I probably would not have read it if not for this book club, so I’m grateful many of you apparently rated it more highly than I did. I’m really glad she ended with the research on psychedelics. I found it refreshingly hopeful, anyway, especially after her takedown of so many other things earlier in the book. I would say it hasn’t really changed my perception of the rigors of age, but it has made me more aware (and critical) of all the ways we try to defy aging and death.
Glad to have a virtual book club while we’re all practicing social distancing!
Enjoyed the 1st part of the book, but didn't care for the 2nd part. Liked when she was shooting from the hip about every day type things involving health, but couldn't stand when she got all Self, Soul & Death (which btw I heard was Earth, Wind & Fire's 2nd choice for a band name)
I love the notions that both the Soul & the Self were invented, from clear air. Kind of like how Harari in Sapiens asserts about the notion of God. Especially interesting that the former was invented after the Bible was written.
Another new lens through which to look that hit me over the head was dealing w death. The notion that dealing w death is really a struggle to envision the world existing w out us in it, was a total wallop. Insert head exploding emoji here. Our (selfish) “legacy” being the prime driver, as she puts it.
Which, when stepping away from such self indulgent points of view, encourages us to view the human as a ‘cell’ in the super being that is humanity. But what of the animals? The environment. The earth will also end. So, too the universe. You can double the head exploding emoji here. But, beyond that shock, it’s an encouraging reminder that one should take the inspiration to look in the mirror, and beyond.
The finale was a wrap up worthy of the contents of the book, indeed. The author proved to be thoughtfully and delightfully antagonistic throughout. And it’s these challenges to conventional thought / wisdom that nourishes the growth of thoughts and ideas for the good of the land. And when she can equally throw spears at the evolution and origin of religion as she does to the evolution of sciences, she’s done her due diligence to rake intellectual (and non secular) muck. And has done the raking empirically, w any personal or opinion driven items clearly delineated. She damn near lost me at the cellular level, but on the whole, the book was great and I truly loved the way she finished.
I loved this book! I probably would not have read it if not for this book club, so I’m grateful many of you apparently rated it more highly than I did. I’m really glad she ended with the research on psychedelics. I found it refreshingly hopeful, anyway, especially after her takedown of so many other things earlier in the book. I would say it hasn’t really changed my perception of the rigors of age, but it has made me more aware (and critical) of all the ways we try to defy aging and death.
Glad to have a virtual book club while we’re all practicing social distancing!
Enjoyed the 1st part of the book, but didn't care for the 2nd part. Liked when she was shooting from the hip about every day type things involving health, but couldn't stand when she got all Self, Soul & Death (which btw I heard was Earth, Wind & Fire's 2nd choice for a band name)